Nigerians losing interest in whistleblowing – EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has be bemoan Nigerians loss of interest in the whistleblowing policy of the federal government despite the huge financial reward attached to it.

The EFCC Chairman, Abdullahi Bawa, said this during a one-day town hall meeting on strengthening the capacity of stakeholders on the whistleblowing policy held in Ilorin, the Kwara State.

The programme with the theme, “The role of community-based organisations in entrenching whistleblowing at the grassroots,” was in partnership with the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy and supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

He said, “Two of the landmark recoveries from whistleblowers’ information were the $9.8m recovered from a former managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr Andrew Yakubu, and the $11 million recovered at an apartment in Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.

“This seeming loss of interest is difficult to explain given that those who initially embraced the policy were rewarded.”

Bawa was represented at the event by the Commission’s Director of Public Affairs, Osita Nwajah.